


Rommates of SHIELD

by Elorin



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bucky and Steve didn't know each other, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputee Bucky Barnes, Asexual Natasha Romanov, Bucky is a little shit, Bucky is safe but still needs a hug, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, M/M, Minor Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, SHIELD Agent Bucky Barnes, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Spite Date, Steve is a little shit, rommate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 07:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6696133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elorin/pseuds/Elorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers share a living room, issues, values and a bunch of friends. Friends who think that they could get along just fine if they didn't choose to annoy the shit out of each other in spite. Tony blows up things, Clint vouches for Barnes' coffee, Natasha rolls his eyes over her best boys, Sam tries to fix them and the heater all the while training to become an avenger after Buck flipped the bird at Fury.<br/>Steve ? Steve mistakes paint for coffee and tries not to slap Buck with his shield in the morning. Buck ? His mouth and the bullshit that comes from it are a goddamn challenge to Steve's nerves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rommates of SHIELD

**Author's Note:**

> 1) The rommate idea was http://brickhousebuck.tumblr.com/ 's. : technically the things I'm gonna take from her idea are only coming in a few chapters but this fic owes her its existence. 
> 
> 2) I'm not an english native speaker so feel free to yell at me for any mistakes I may (will) make and if someone is willing to beta-read me, it would be my pleasure and honor.
> 
> Enjoy ! Kudos & comments are always welcome !

“- Hello.. Fuck, sorry !”

There was a handsome and more than half-naked man in the middle of the living room.

The hotness was a given but the black boxers briefs turned up to be more than Steven Grant Rogers could chew, and the super-soldier almost forgot that he had super-strenght and super-reflexes to drop everything he carried out of shock. In another universe, he could stare without shame, drop the cardboard box without any consequences and the staring would not be the end of his interactions with the man. 

With his new rommate.

It wasn't a dream though, and his reflexes picked up where his brain left off – his big bulky self succeeding in not dropping everything and his legs in moving. 

Steve stammered backwards, half-hiding behind the corner. His back against the wall, his fingers barely holding on the big box – don't drop that Steve, your damn life is in it. Breathe in, breathe out. Don't look back. Be a good boy, let the guy put some clothes on first. Steve bit his bottom lip and glanced up to the ceiling. 

“-What the hell ?”

Giving the guy some privacy would be easier if he was actually using it.

Steve stared down at Barnes. 

The guy was oblivious and shameless. He had followed Steve back to the entrance of the appartment, still in his briefs only, his pale skin more covered by tattoos than by actual fabric. He was wearing his hair longer than pictured in his files, the black strands outlining his fury and the tension of his jaw without hiding his eyes. His glare.  
There was steel in his eyes, a mix of blue and grey and Steve could have feel small under the (righteous) anger if they weren't so wide and in such a childish face, emotions bubbling on Barnes' face too quickly for the avenger to catch. 

Until Barnes snapped back at him.

“- Captain ? What the fuck ?” 

Bucky had his share of hallucinations and weird dreams but this one ? It was a new one.  
White shirt, blue jeans, leather jacket and embarassment written all over his face – Captain America himself, who just entered in his living room while he was trying to decide what to wear, of all times. Bucky could feel the cold of his dog tag against his bare skin, and the cold air from the front door, still ajar. But he really couldn't bring himself to care or to think about closing his mouth, to busy to stare at Steve, bewildered. 

Steve did the second world war, shoulder to shoulder with some of the most boisterous, crudest and best men of the army. Technically he was far less prude and uptight than the others Avengers thought. Technically he wasn't embarrassed in front of a naked man and Barnes was not the first he's ever seen. Still, not the best setting for a first meeting and he could feel a flush creeping up his face. He should have knocked, not very Captain America of him. 

Without thinking, Steve pulled out one his best captain voice and lift an eyebrow.

“- I'll explain, just put some clothes on first”

“- Get the fuck out of my condo first, then we'll talk.”

Call me unimpressed said Barnes' pout. Yes, he was in his underwears at home, why the fuck not ? He wasn't expecting anyone who hasn't see him in a worse state and he was about to get dressed before Captain Rude helped himself in.

The brunet shrugged, the arm plates shifting with a small buzzing sound. Stark's industries finest tech – Steve knew the fact from the files - Chitauris attack, 2012, loss of a limb while protecting civilians. Highest-tech prothesis in the world, one and only prototype, classified – but he could have guess just by looking at it. Yes, the design was smart, efficient, letal, and futuristic. No, it was not as gawdy as Iron-Man. But yes, only Tony Stark could succeed in making a limb of metal... threatening. Alive.

Because there was threat behind the shrug and the way Barnes was keeping his chin up and his nudity aggressive - his hands on his hips, body too close to Steve's. 

“- I mean, if you're here to talk at all. Otherwise, fine, get over here.”

The pout. The wink. The words. Everything was screaming sex and innuendos. Except for the tone that was more agressive than it should be allowed when half naked.  
Barnes was positively growling, teeth bared and glaring eyes. 

Steve did come over here though.

He followed the sniper back into the living room, lips shut tight and rosy cheeks. 

Buchanan James Barnes. Best known as James, codename: Winter Soldier. Army, sniper, SHIELD. The guy could fly and repair everything that got a engine inside – and maybe even when there was none, if the time he spent in Stark's lab was any indication of his skills. On the top of the “avengers-wannabe” list. 

Steve was still trying to forget that one of the howling commandos was named “James Buchanan” and that he died, falling from a train in front of him. The kid might or might not be named after him but this was not a question Steve would ever willing to ask.

When your new teammate was named after a kid you knew growing up, what did it says about you ? 

He let Barnes disappear in another room ( the bedroom ? ) and slam the door shut while he put his box on the floor. A small unassuming card-board box, weighting literally nothing in his arms et containing half of his belongings. Steve looked away, his eyes flickering from one point to another, assessing the place. 

It was a typical “lent by SHIELD” appartment – two bedrooms, a bathroom. The kitchen and the living room were a single room, divided by a breakfast bar. Behind the “front door” – a SHIELD facility. There were several appartements in this part of the building, usually for agents in need of some place to lay low some times or to stay only for a few weeks, in between missions. 

Neither Barnes nor him matched the description. 

The sniper moved in six months ago, but it was still pretty barren. A mug of coffee on the bar, some left over pancakes on a plate, a few books. A blueprint of a spaceship or an helicarrier was framed on the wall and there was a nest of cushions and soft blankets on the sofa.  
Sofa on which Steve was not going to sit by fear of inadvertenly sitting on a gun or a knife – if not a grenade. He didn't have to check to know that the place was stuffed with weapons easy to access from any position in the appartment.

“- What the fuck are you doing in my condo, Captain ?”

Barnes had put on a dressing gown, barely closed in the front as if the soft fabric was trying to escape his chest and shoulders. The fidgeting with his left sleeve was the only thing betraying his nervosity – hair pulled back, lips still drew back in a snarl, shoulders tensed enough to run through a wall of bricks. 

He was ready for a fight and Steve had to defuse the tension, if only to get rid of the lump in his throat. Being thrown out twice in two days was not in his plan.

“- We haven't met yet,” began Steve.

“- Yeah, but I know who you are. Not hard to tell, blue eyes to die for, best shoulders-hips ratio in SHIELD, according to Tony. The question is “ James paused and articulated the next words in a slow commanding voice “what. Are. You. Doing. in. my. Place.” 

Steve opted for the blank truth. Go big or go home, except than...

“Moving in.”

He didn't have a home anymore, curtesy of Hydra. 

Bucky shot him an incredulous look and Steve winced – maybe he should have elaborate a little. 

“I need a place to stay and with the Triskelion thingy” Bucky snorted, Steve glared “SHIELD doesn't have a lot of safehouses left. You still got a room free so I'm supposed to be your... rommate, I guess. Thought you knew I was coming today.”

Fuck, no, thought Bucky. Yes, SHIELD was a mess after “the Triskelion thingy” - the rise of HYDRA, the fall of SHIELD and three helicarriers plus one captain america saving the day. Again. Sorry for the sarcasm but the Agent Barnes was repairing a bike when one of his co-worker suddenly tried to shot him in the head. He had to fist fight a guy he trusted and still ended up with two gun shots and a terrible headache. He refuse to speak about this day to anyone, even his shrink – and Natasha had a different point of view than him on the event so she couldn't help. Running in the corridors of his workplace to find friends dying in a puddle of blood. Knocking the light out of a guy he asked out once. A gun to his head and the order to hail HYDRA or die on his knees. 

Memories were overwhelming, and Bucky felt his chest tighten – it didn't help at all. It didn't make sense. Rogers in need of a room ? Rogers homeless ? Rogers his rommate ? Didn't the guy has friends, like a whole team ? Half of his closest friends were working with him and if the way they had to bring “Stevie” in every one of their conversations was any indicator at all, Rogers has friends, loyal and good ones – Buck would know, they were also his. Even if they've never met – in fact James did his best to avoid meeting Captain America. He shrugged, more tense than he looked and trying to think of a way out. 

“We don't know each other.” 

“ You fight by our side in the battle of New-Y,”

“ Don't bullshit me. You didn't recognize me.”

It hurt to say it, it hurt every fucking day of James' life to do his best while super-heroes were saving the day and not giving a damn about him and the other agents. He hurt to admit it out loud. But he would be damned if he didn't try to guilt Rogers out of his appartment. 

Steve suddenly discovered what it was like to try and argue with a little shit like himself - his own medicine turned to be hard to swallow but he could do this all day. 

“- No, but I can read. You could have join the Avengers with the stun you pulled back there, fighting without an arm and..”

“- Oh yeah. The truth finally. You're here to baby-sit me, watch over the slowly-losing-it-poor-Mr-Barnes. I do my toll, go the meetings and even have a social life thank you. Is it Sam that sent you ?” 

Barnes looked smug, like a self-satisfied cat, happy to snarl and finally get to scratch the itch.

“Fury actually,” retorted Steve.

He shouldn't feel proud of his comeback, right ? But he was holding his ground and, more importantly his temper – thumbs under his belt, sass on his lips and shoulders squared.

“Listen,”

Steve swallowed the “soldier” on the tip of his tongue just in time but the flinch in Barnes' posture made it clear that he heard it all the same and a pinch of guilt awoke in Steve's stomach. Barnes was dragging him into a fight and the only way he had not to run into it like a jerk was to use his captain voice. Nobody wants to be rommate with Captain America, not the “poster-boy in thighs” or the “patronizing commanding officer” versions at least. 

He bit his lips and took a deep breath. If he wanted this to work, he had to pull his own guard down and stop putting his foot in his mouth – to act like Steve Rogers, not like some dick coming in without asking and bossing everyone around. Pretending to be in charge was easier than letting show how out of his depth he was lately.

“Listen, my appartment in DC blew up because of HYDRA. Stark Tower blew up because of HYDRA. Every agent is to be on lock down..”

“Under scrutiny”

“ … Fine, under scrutiny, but with reason.”

Their eyes met in a silent and sad agreement.

Bucky's eyes narrowed but this time he didn't add anything, putting Steve off balance. He almost looked like a kicked pupyy, expecting Bucky to retort to him and finding silence in front of him. Bucky knew that his race of thoughts were visible under his frown – his emotions were on his face, always. Natasha tried to teach him to look stern and emotionless, to lie and play a role but in vain. He couldn't bring himself to control his face. And right now he was troubled. 

Hydra sleeper agents had been taken out. Most of them at least – there were a lot of supicious glances and nervous whispers in every SHIELD facility. Trust and camaraderie were gone. Spies spying on others spies. Bucky was still a soldier though, used to trust the men and women at his sides, unfamiliar with the fear of being stabbed in the back. This was an unsettling feeling to say the last and his heart was throbbing into his chest. 

He glanced up to Steve, still silent and motionless in the middle of his living room. The blond had run his hand through his hair and looked dishevelled, his flush sticking to his cheekbones as he put his hands down his back pockets. He occupied less space than earlier and look... more real.  
James was feeling more naked and exposed than ever, the softness of his dressing gown – more a comfort blanket than anything – still rash on his over sensitive skin. He licked his bottom lips and got his guts up.

“You think I'm HYDRA,” stated Bucky. 

He felt cold, colder than when he was in shock and bleeding to death from the stump of his arm but his blank distress turned to fury as Steve laughed.

It would have been anyone else, anywhere else and especially at any other times it would have been cute. A small chuckle escaped Steve's lips as he shook his head in... what ? Disbelief ? Amusement ? The arm plates swifted in a more defensive stance under the fluffy dressing gown, and his hand, half-hidden behind his too long sleeve, clenched in a tight fist. 

“No.” Steve shrugged. “In fact, I am pretty sure you're one of the good guys and Hill agrees with me. That's the point. No HYDRA agent in the bathroom. No Captain America killed in his sleep by his roommate. It's a win. ” 

Steve hoped his “rommate” believed him. He was sincere. He didn't remember the agent from the Chitauris attack but his files were pretty much perfect and not in the “perfect little soldier-agent” kind of perfect. He had issues, sure, but The Avengers was a fucking disfonctional joke when it came to “issues” and Steve had learnt to deal with their issues as well as his own. Barnes was an asset and a good agent. Trustworthy and loyal, and more important, a good man. Ready to die for his teammates and for innocent civilians but also ready to disobey and, contrary to some other agents he was not verging on sadism and psychopathy. Natasha spoke about him with kind eyes, Stark with excitement and Barton vouched for him.  
Yes Steve had been curious about the guy for a long time now but he should have expect the deadpan-sarcasm from Barnes' friendships and the hostily from the files – and from Fury's smirk. 

Plus, Steve was dead certain than a real double-agent would not look that heartbroken when fearing to be uncovered. 

“-You don't have to be Hydra to be willing to murder your punkass face.”

Steve snorted as a shit-eating grin replaced the pale terror on Barnes' face. Half of it might be for show only but Rogers wasn't one to call someone's mask and shield out. They all have their own way to deal with their fears. 

Going along with it would be funnier and mischief sparkled in the baby blue eyes of Captain America.

“Is that a challenge soldier ?”


End file.
